President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Sunday renewed his vow to eliminate corruption in public works projects, warning that defective infrastructure not only wastes government funds but also harms ordinary Filipinos through economic losses.
“If there’s one thing, I will not leave this office until I fix this,” Marcos said during an inspection of failed multi-million peso projects along Kennon Road in Barangay Camp 4, Tuba, Benguet. These included a PhP264 million rock shed and a rock netting structure, both of which have drawn complaints from local communities.
Marcos noted that repairing the collapsed rock shed alone has already caused a 35 percent loss to the local economy. He added that reconstructing it would now cost the government at least PhP500 million, or nearly double the original price.
To address such failures, the President ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to reinstate the standard operating procedure (SOP) requiring acceptance of projects by local government units (LGUs) before declaring them complete.
“Tinanggal ‘yung SOP na ‘yun. The SOP is that before you release the project to the local government, kailangan tanggapin ng local government. And that’s something we will reinstitute,” Marcos stressed, citing his own experience as governor of Ilocos Norte.
He explained that bypassing LGUs opens the door to substandard work: “Kung hindi tanggap ng local government, maliwanag na may problema ‘yan.”
The President also criticized the rock netting project in Purok Maramal, Sitio Camp 5, which was intended to shield motorists from minor landslides along Kennon Road, one of the main gateways to Baguio City. Rock netting projects, he pointed out, were already banned due to corruption issues.
“Napaka-notorious ng rock netting sa korupsyon, ipinagbawal na. Pero ginawa pa rin,” Marcos said.
He revealed that according to the supplier, each mesh used in the project should cost PhP3,200. However, the government was charged PhP12,000 each—nearly four times higher. “So, 75 percent ng kontrata kinickback,” the President said.
The project, which covered 3,479 square meters of slope with 3-millimeter high-tensile wire mesh and a green mat for erosion control, was awarded to 3K Rock Engineering—the same contractor behind the defective rock shed. Carried out between April 24, 2018 and June 15, 2019, it had a contract price of PhP114.177 million. Parts of the mesh inspected by Marcos were found to be either damaged or in poor condition.
“These are the things we have to correct,” he said. “Over the years, these abuses came about because the system was changed and projects were deliberately manipulated.”
With reports from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)
